Full text of "Report of the National Conference on the Unemployment of Women Dependent on their own Earnings, held in the Council Chamber of the Guildhall, London, E.C., on Tuesday, October 15th., 1907"

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REPORT

OF THE

NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE
UNEMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN DEPEN-
DENT ON THEIR OWN EARNINGS.

> 5

HELD IN THE

COUNCIL CHAMBER OF THE
GUILDHALL, LONDON, E* C*,
On TUESDAY, October 15th, 1907,

Price Id., or lid. post free.

WOMEN'S INDUSTRIAL COUNCIL,
7, JOHN STREET, ADE LPHI, W.C,

1907.

Women's Industrial Council

7, John Street, Adelphi, Strand, W.C.

On SaJe at the Otf ice,

SWEATED INDUSTRY AND
THE MINIMUM WAGE

By CLEMENTINA BLACK.

1907. 3/6 net. MM|

WOMEN IN THE PRINTING TRADE^

A SOCIOLOGICAL STUDY. \

Edited by J. RAMSAY MACDONALD, M.P.
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REPORT ON THE HOME INDUSTRIES
OF WOMEN IN LONDON

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REPORT

OF THE

NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE
UNEMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN DEPEN-
DENT ON THEIR OWN EARNINGS.

HELD IN THE

COUNCIL CHAMBER OF THE
GUILDHALL, LONDON, E*
On TUESDAY, October 15th, 1907,

Price 2d. 5 or 3d. post free.

VOMEN^S INDUSTRIAL COUNCIL
7, JOHN STREET, ADELPHI, W.C.

19 07.

REPORT

OF THE

NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE UNEMPLOYMENT
OF WOMEN DEPENDENT ON THEIR OWN EARNINGS

HELD IN THE

COUNCIL CHAMBER OF THE GUILDHALL,

LONDON, E.C.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 15TH, 1907.

INTRODUCTION.
The Women's Industrial Council has for many years made
a study of the conditions of the Unemployment of Women and
Girls, especially in London. At the time of the establishment
of the Central Distress Committee, appointed for London by Mr.
Long, the Council felt it important that women should share in
any efforts made to deal with the problem of Unemployment.
The Council made special enquiries as to the prevalence of Un-
employment amongst women dependent on their own earnings,
and drew up a memorandum with some practical sugges-
tions. This was put before the Central Committee, but that
Committee did practically nothing for women or girls, although
it received a deputation at last from the Council, but only after
it had spent all available funds on men. During and after the
passing of the Unemployment Act, 1905, the Council again
pressed the claims of women and girls, and sent a somewhat
similar memorandum to the Central Unemployed Body for
London. The result was more successful. The Committee ap-
pointed a special Women's Work Sub -Committee, of which one
of our members, Mr. J. R. MacDonald, was first chairman, and
this sub-committee considered our suggestions, and put into effect
the one regarding workrooms, using the garments made largely
for emigration. The result has been very successful as far as the
experiment goes. The Council also received questions on the
subject of the Unemployment of Women from the Poor Law
Commission, and in order to answer them it made special
enquiries, and sent out questions to persons of experience, both

in London and other parts of the kingdom. Replies were received
from between sixty and seventy secretaries of Trade Unions,
including women as members, from nearly the same number of
clubs and settlements, and from a score or so of other persons
with special knowledge of the subject. Unfortunately, compara-
tively few of the answers were sufficiently full or exact to make
a tabulation seem very feasible, but a long memorandum was
drawn up and submitted to the Commission, and Mrs. J. Ramsay
MacDonald has given verbal evidence on behalf of the Council.

As a result of these activities, the Council thought it would
be useful to call a National Conference on the Unemployment of
Women and Girls dependent on their own earnings, of which
the Report is herewith presented. A preliminary agenda was sent
out in the early summer, and the response was most gratifying.
Indeed, so many applications were received for tickets from
public bodies, societies and individuals, that many who wished to
be there had to be disappointed.* No resolution was proposed at
the Conference, but the general discussion brought forward a good
many practical points, and served to bring the question of
unemployed women more prominently before the public, and to
emphasise the need for dealing with them under the Unemployed
Workmen's Act.

Proceedings Opened at io a.m. by the
LORD MAYOR (Rt. Hon. Sir William Purdie Treloar)

IN STATE.

The Lord Mayor : Ladies, I am not here to-day to take
part in your most interesting discussion upon the different aspects
of the existing problem of the unemployment of women and
girls, but I am here in state with the Sheriffs to emphasise, if
possible, the hearty welcome which the Corporation of London
extend to you in your visit here. As head of that Corporation,
it gives me very great pleasure to offer you a sincere welcome,
and to assure you that I and every member of the Corporation
have the greatest sympathy with the aims and objects for which
you are assembled. I hope sincerely that your deliberations will
be of great benefit to women and girls in the aspects about which
you are to discuss. I am quite certain that, under the able pre-

* Public Authorities, including Town Councils, Boards of Guardians, Distress
Committees, &c., in England, Scotland and Wales, demanded 208 tickets ; societies,
representing every shade of opinion and every interest, asked for a total of 708,
while tickets were issued to 33 representatives of the Press and to nearly 200 private
individuals, making a total of 1145. As the seating accommodation was only 400,
it was not possible to send out more than half the tickets asked for.

sidency of Mrs. Cadbury, your proceedings will be carried on
with order and decorum, and that you will arrive at some sub-
stantial panacea which will assist very much the object which
you have in view. With these few words I will ask Mrs. Cadbury
to take the chair, and I will regretfully take my leave of you.

(The Lord Mayor and Sheriffs then left the Council Chamber,
and Mrs. Cadbury took the chair as President for the Morning
Session.)

The President : Ladies and Delegates, — We have met here
to-day, as the Lord Mayor has already indicated, to consider the
problem of the unemployment of women and girls. We have
often had Conferences on the work of women, and on the wages
of women ; but we have had difficulty in arriving at any conclu-
sion, and we have not at present, in any definite measure, begun
to help women, either from the point of view of raising their
wages, or of finding employment for them when work is slack.
There are three and a quarter millions of women — unmarried
women — at work in England, and another million of married
women. Seeing that the number of those who have to work for
themselves, and in a great many cases for their families as well,
is so very large, and that women are driven by the system of
modern life to work in every market, but that at present they
have no voice in the counsels of the nation, we therefore fear lest
they may be left out of any scheme that may De formulated to
assist the labour of men, and to provide for men in times of slack
work, and to relieve their poverty when they are unemployed.
It has been said that there are a great number of women who go
back to the factories after they are married, because they find it
more interesting than doing their home work ; but an investi-
gator some time ago in Birmingham discovered that there were
hardly any women who came under this heading, and that they
were practically all driven to work owing to sheer necessity. It
was also found that 23 per cent, of the women working in
Birmingham — taking that as a typical city — were married
women with others dependent upon them. When women lose
their work they are in a much worse case than men, because they
have not such organisations as friendly societies to assist them
in times of unemployment. Their trades unions are almost non-
existent, for at present they embrace such a small proportion of
the women who work. Also, their wages, even when they are em-
ployed, are so low that they are unable to save against times of
unemployment. The average wage of women workers in large
cities is los. per week — that is, for unmarried women. It is,
therefore, impossible for women, if they have others besides

themselves to support, to save anything for bad times.
There are various reasons for women's wages being so much
lower than those given to men. For one reason, they are often
employed in the production of cheap lines, the cheapness of the
goods they produce of course necessitating cheap wages. Another
reason is that women cannot look after their machinery and
tools, and that particular work is given to men. Then, they are
not used to independence, and they therefore find it more difficult
than men to co-operate — to combine to force up the rate of
wages. Also, in many cases they are subsidised by their hus-
bands or by their families, and this is one of the principal reasons
why wages are so low. A woman is supposed to represent only
herself, while a man is supposed to represent the family that he
is working for. The very fact of the low wages given to them
while they are hard at work makes this question the more
pressing. In London, I believe, the question is more pressing
than in some of the provincial towns. Last year in Birmingham
the number of women unemployed was not so great in propor-
tion as the number of men unemployed ; in fact, one woman I
know well said she had four sons out of work, and that she
never thought that she would have lived to see the day when
she wished they were girls, because her girls could get work.
Birmingham has a great number of trades which mainly employ
women, and therefore that is not a fair sample to take. But we
liave to come now to the conclusion that any scheme dealing
with the unemployment of women must be on the same lines as
in the case of men, because the woman is so largely the wage-
earner and supporter of others. As long as women are not con-
sidered citizens and have no vote, we are afraid that they will
not have any very great relief ; but, at the same time, I think we
shall see that in this case, as in others, the woman's case is man's,
and it will be much better for both when the place of woman in
the industrial world is recognised, when she is legislated for on
the same lines as her brothers and husband, and when her work
is also valued and paid for according to her capacity, and not
according to her sex. At this Conference this morning we are
-expecting to have a number of papers from those who have
specially studied the subject, and who will be able to bring first-
hand knowledge to bear on the question. We hope it will not
merely end in talk, but that we shall be able by the end of the
•day to formulate some scheme which we may pass on to those
who have the power to legislate, even if it may not be adopted,
— some scheme to assist the great question of the unemployment
of women. (Applause.)

Miss Clementina Black : My business this morning is to
speak of two remedies — nominal remedies — that are not remedies
for unemployment. These two are emigration and domestic
service. It is true that for certain individuals there may be a
way of escape from unemployment through these two doors, but
the number of individuals who can escape is very small — much
smaller than the outer public believe. Let me speak first of
domestic service. Whenever you appeal to a body of middle-class
people who are not acquainted with workpeople, they have
one stereotyped answer, " Why don't they go into service ? We
want more servants." They want more servants, but they most
emphatically do not want untrained, unskilled servants. There
are not enough skilled women in domestic service, but there are
already far too many unskilled women, and it must be borne in
mind that- the whole hope of the future in domestic service is
that it should become not a less trained and skilled, but a more
trained and skilled, calling. As it is, it represents not one, but
many, trained callings, and a woman who has spent her whole
life in factory work or the ordinary work of dressmaking is
totally unfitted to become a domestic servant. I always have a
spiteful desire, when persons consider that to be a remedy, to
send in a person wholly trained in the factory — often a respect-
able and admirable young woman, but as a servant by no means
a blessing to herself and her employers. A little practical
experience of that kind would sometimes be extremely valuable.
Moreover, we must remember that the unemployed woman is
often a mother with children. Domestic service is not
possible to a woman with three or four children, and those are
the most pressing and anxious cases. How can a woman with
a sick husband and small children go into domestic service ?
Quite impossible. These women are often the supporters of sick
relations. The degree to which a workwoman helps her relations
is one reason why she cannot in most instances either emigrate
or go to service. Moreover, although it may help a family to
emigrate, it is rather difficult for an individual to go alone to a
new country. There are young women — active, energetic young
women, — for whom emigration is the individual hope, and it
would be desirable if Distress Committees would realize that
there are certain numbers of single young women for whom
emigration would give a new hope in life. There are such cases,
but to regard either emigration or domestic service as affording
anything like a panacea for the unemployment of women is to
show ignorance. Therefore, it is thought well to begin to-day
by pointing out that if we discuss these two remedies as remedies

for unemployment, we shall be wasting our time, and in most
Conferences a great deal of time is wasted in discussing these. It
would be well if future Conferences would recognize more the
importance of women being skilled in domestic arts, and the
raising of domestic arts to a higher plane of skill. I beg you to
agree with us that the gap which at present exists cannot
be filled by drafting in untrained, unpractised women whose
whole lives have been spent in different ways — who would
be perfectly wretched in service, and who would go far (although
persons very often with admirable qualities in their own sphere)
to make the household uncomfortable. Then with regard to
emigration — there is a certain small portion of the unemployed
group of women for whom emigration is a remedy. We should
all like to see a satisfactory scheme in this direction, and it would
be well if opportunities were presented much more easily
to those concerned. When we have put into domestic service
all those who are fitted for it, a very small minority, and when
we have emigrated a possibly large number — but still not a large
proportion of the whole — we have left a very large residuum of
women who, for family reasons or for reasons of health, are
totally unfit for either domestic service or emigration. The
question therefore to-day is : What are we to do with those ?
There are two sorts to be considered. There is the woman whose
husband has a job and is willing to work, who often is in-
dustrious, but whose wage is so low that it does not suffice to
keep a family. There are numbers and numbers of such men.
Then there is the woman whose family and husband manage to
live on the husband's wages when he is in work, but cannot lay
by one penny towards the time of unemployment ; and there are
large numbers of employments which are exceedingly irregular,
and the man is very apt to be out of work, and then the wife
begins to look for work and falls at once into the category of un-
employed women because she desires to be employed and is not
employed. The remedy that suggests itself to most of us is to
get the husband better paid, because if a man is out of work at
one time and in work at another time it is necessary for him to
save against the time of unemployment. The case of a
woman whose husband is out of work very often, and does not
earn enough to keep a family is a sign of a disease in the body
politic, a sign of something wrong in our civilization. So for
that other remedies will have to be considered, and these we hope
to hear of later. Then there are women dependent on their own
exertions who have almost always someone else depending on
a part of their income. These women are the greatest sufferers

of all. Women who have no resources but their own earnings
and in nine cases out of ten try to support people whose
existence is much dearer to them than their own — those are the
people who really deserve help, and they are largely citizens of a
very valuable character, the sort of women the country wants,
the sort of women who devote themselves largely to others, who
are making a desperate struggle to keep their children or sick
relations. If there is any class of the community that demands
our sympathy and not only our sympathy but our careful and
deliberate help, that class is the class of unemployed women who
have others dependent on them. That is the class we are met to
consider to-day, and i^ we succeed in ameliorating their lot, or
in bringing in some satisfactory economic help to that group of
women, we shall have done more — I say it boldly — than our
Parliament has done in many sessions.

The President . I am sorry to say that Mr. Will Crooks
has been ill for some weeks, and has been forbidden to take part
in any work for the present. He is, therefore, unable to be here
this morning, but he will come this afternoon if well enough,
though he cannot give the paper he intended to read.
Mrs. MacDonald has asked him if anyone could be sent from
Poplar to explain the work organised there for helping women
out of employment. We have not received any name so far, but
if anybody is here representing Mr. Crooks, we shall be glad for
the name to be handed to the Chair. In the meantime I will
ask Miss Margaret Smith to speak on behalf of the Women's
Labour League in Birmingham.

Miss Margaret Smith : My paper is a short study of the
problem of the unemployment of women as it presents itself in
Birmingham. It is necessarily only a superficial study, owing
to the circumstances of the investigation and the very short time
in which it had to take place, so that you can see it is quite
impossible to go very deeply into the matter. There is some
difficulty in concentrating upon the particular aspect under
discussion — namely, the employment of women depending upon
their own earnings — because the conditions of life and the wages
and so forth are the same for both classes of women. And the
conditions of unemployment apply equally to both. As Miss
Black pointed out, we shall have to consider the two problems
specially. And then it is difficult, in considering the question of
the unemployment of women in Birmingham, apart from the
question of the unemployment of men, because there are many
trades — the tailoring trade, for one — in which the unemployment
of women depends directly upon the unemployment of men,

because the women are employed in one process together with
men — the great difference being that it is easier to deal with
the unemployment of men because they have begun to take a
much broader interest in questions affecting themselves than
women, at any rate in Birmingham, have begun to take. There
are some large works in Birmingham, but in the main Birming-
ham has small trades and very small shops. Indeed, we find
perhaps one woman, or sometimes only three or four, at work.
This affects the problem of unemployment considerably I find
because very many workers, when work is slack at one shop, go
from one shop to another, where things are a little busy— they
are able to do that in some cases. This is because shops some-
times specialise in a particular branch of their trade, and some-
times, when there is not much work in one special branch, there
is more work in another, and so the work is shifted about from
shop to shop. Then sometimes we find what is a very hopeful
sign — that many masters do their best to keep their regular
employees on — and we find that many of the workers are
employed during the whole of the slack time at a day wage, and
sometimes they are even paid a full wage during sickness.
However, that is only the bright side of the picture. In other
shops, I am told, they make excuses in order to get rid of girls
In small tailors' shops the difficulty of the slack time is overcome
by the employer taking what work he can get, and so alluring
his employees to " stand by " ; they may perhaps get two or
three hours' work, and then have to go home. Others told me
that there was work enough sometimes in slack seasons to keep
them going, and that they made up for slack time by working
overtime ; so in some cases the problem is not so acute as in
others. When I came to study the causes of unemployment, I
found naturally that it was different in different trades. For
instance, in the ammunition trade, which also includes the
making of cardboard boxes to pack the ammunition in, and in
the harness and saddlery trade, there has been a general slackness
since the war. Then there are the decaying trades, such as the
pearl button trade, and in those trades we find outworkers con-
siderably affected, and some of the outworkers are those on
whom unemployment bears the hardest, because their wages are ,
so small at the best of times ; even when they can get four or
five children to help them, their wages can scarcely rise above
los. 6d. per week, and frequently much less than that. They
cannot possibly earn enough to keep them in slack times, and as
there is nothing else coming in, unemployment bears very
heavily upon them. Holidays account for slackness in many

trades — gasfitting, for instance. I suppose when people are
away amusing themselves they will not have new fittings put in.
On the other hand, in the furniture trade, more work comes in
during holiday times, because in holiday times people get
married and set up their homes and buy their furniture, and so
more work comes in for furniture-makers to do. Then the
weather affects certain trades, more especially those connected
with food supply. In the confectionery trade more is done in
hot weather, and in such trades as butter-making, more is done
in cold. Then in some trades the days of the week make a
difference. Monday is very often a slack day ; in the tailoring
trade, for instance, the orders come in at the beginning of the
week and have to be executed by the Saturday in many cases,
and the new week starts without work. It is also a habit in the
tailoring trade to keep back the work, for with a day rate
generally in force, the master wants to get as much work done
in a day as he can possibly get, and so he only gives the work
out to the workers on Wednesday or Thursday, they being-
practically unemployed during the early part of the week. And
then, in the manufacture of luxuries, such as jewellery, we
naturally expect that any general depression of trade will affect
the demand for those luxuries at once. When we come to the
attempts that are being made to confront t-his problem, we find
a very great difficulty in bringing together the employers and
those who need work. At the Women's Settlement, where they"
take some trouble to find work for unemployed women, they say
that a charwoman, for instance, states that in two years she
can work -up a very good connection, but, in the meantime,,
while working up the connection, she has to suffer short time.
On the other hand, if she does work up a connection, those
wanting workers and those wanting work can be brought
together successfully, and thus it is possible to make a good-
living, and the amount of unemployment need not be very great,,
for there always is a demand for a good charwoman. Again, in
such trades as dressmaking, it is suggested that if only girls
would learn good work instead of being satisfied with being
merely skirt or bodice hands, they would most probably find
work in periods of short time. Of course that suggestion,
belongs to the much bigger suggestion that all children should
receive technical trade instruction. I do not want to go into that
question in much detail, but I hope it will be brought out in the
course of the day, because it always seems to me that if that were
done there would be this difficulty — instead of having a large
number of unskilled unemployed, you will have a large number

of skilled unemployed. So far it has been shown that owing
to the number and variety of Birmingham trades, there
cannot be said to be any special period of unemployment, o^
any special length of time during which any worker is
likely to be unemployed. Of course that presents a difficulty,
because the Distress Committees work largely, I believe,
in the winter, and women are unemployed at all times
of the year, and not specially during the winter. The
time any good worker is likely to be unemployed ranges from
four weeks to six months in the year. A number of Birmingham
workers were asked whether they could earn enough in busy
seasons to keep themselves in slack seasons, and from the answers
it would appear that getting into debt is the most ordinary way
of iceeping themselves. When they get into work again, they
have this debt hanging round them to contend with. If they
save anything, a pound a year may be considered a very large
sum. Some may be in clubs, and of course that helps them a
little. Roughly the average of wages ranges in most trades from
Ss. 6d. to 13s. od., and you will agree with me that if the woman
is entirely dependent upon her own earnings, and especially so
if other people are dependent upon her, it is not possible for her
to save much out of that sum. Six shillings is considered a huge
amount to pay for board and lodging. And when we reflect that
the school teacher considers she is poorly paid if she gets 30s. od.
a week, and when we also reflect that thirty shillings is considered
a small fortune to a woman worker in a trade, we shall have to
begin thinking of the disparity between the standard of living
in one class and another. When I asked the women whether
wages had decreased or increased, the whole of the workers with
one accord told me they had decreased, and in the sweated trades
every worker I approached told me that wages had decreased
considerably during the last twenty-five years. Now this is not
borne out by documentary evidence, and I should like to have
more information on the subject. One of the great difficulties
that confront us in Birmingham is that there are so many small
trades that it is impossible for us to fix any special time for un-
employment, or to deal in any practical way with the question
of short time. Another is the lack of any well-known central
official labour bureau to which women could apply for work who
needed it. Above all, there is the apathy of women workers in
regard to any means of bettering their conditions, and this is a
very great difficulty indeed. Over and over again, when women
are questioned on the subject of organisation helping them in
times of unemployment, they show that their attitude is one of

almost complete indifference, and only a few individual women
here and there have really grasped the principles of trades union-
ism and would be prepared to carry into effect those principles
if they had the opportunity. And then, there is a great ignorance
on their part as to the institutions that would be able to help them,
such as the Birmingham Distress Committee ; and still greater is
their ignorance of the fact that all these helps may be applied
to women as well as to men. Women are so used, I suppose, to
be cut out of everything — politics, for instance — that they do not
think the Distress Committees can have anything to do with
them. These facts I have been able to gather in the course of a
practically single-handed inquiry. I think myself that an
organised effort such as in Birmingham to concentrate on un-
employment would undoubtedly be the first step towards the
solution of the problem.

Miss Irwin (Scottish Council for Women's Trades) :
I think the lesson we learn from a close study of these
industrial questions is the danger of generalising with regard
to them. The more closely we approach them — the more
closely we see their great complexity — the more we dread a
general remedy or panacea, and I think that is what one feels so-
strongly in connection with the problem that we are met to
consider to-day. I feel that in order to make any complete
diagnosis of the evil of unemployment we should really have to
consider all the social and economic forces that are at present
at work amongst us. At present, of course, this is impossible,
but there are three points in connection with the unemployment
of women to which I think we may certainly give our practical
attention. First, there is the lack of adequate provision for the
industrial training of girls ; secondly, the extent to which unem-
ployment amongst men is a contributory cause of the unemploy-
ment of women ; and thirdly, the preponderance of season and
fashion trades amongst the callings. With regard to the first
point, the absence or inadequacy of provision for the technical
training of girls, as we are all aware, every year thousands of
girls leave our national schools and are launched into the world
without any training to enable them to enter a skilled trade at
which they can earn, I do not say a living " wage — I am tired
of that term — but a competent wage. They will take up any
unskilled work that offers itself if it gives an immediate return^
quite regardless as to whether it will give them an adequate
living in the future. One effect of the serious results of this has
been brought home very forcibly to those of us making the
inquiry into the home needlework trades and the sweated trades.

Here we have been confronted with the terrible straits to which
women are reduced when at a later period of their lives they are
often unexpectedly thrown into the labour market with no
skilled trade at their fingers' ends. Not only are the results of
this disastrous to themselves, but — as the practical trades
unionist knows — the presence of this huge army of unskilled
workers is a dangerous element in any industry. It is practically
impossible to organise and control it, and it constitutes a menace
to the organised workers themselves. Now I do not think there
is any class in life who have come to realise yet as fully as they
ought the need of giving to their girls a liberal education and a
sound and systematic training as they do to their sons Of
course the reason for this is obvious. It so frequently happens
that a woman's industrial or professional life is interrupted by
marriage. But we do see signs of a better provision being made
for the girls — the education of girls in our high schools and
elsewhere. One point to which I think we ought to direct
immediate attention and thought is that of greatly extending
the provision of technical training of girls, and also of placing
before them full information as to all the avenues for entering
the skilled trades — information as to the tests and qualifications
required, the nature of the work, the wages, the hours, the
chances of promotion, and so forth. With regard to the second
point — the results which unemployment amongst men may have
upon women's trades — a large proportion of those who go to
swell the ranks of the unemployed among women in a sense
ought not to be considered directly in connection with that
question at all. Miss Black has already touched upon this point,
and I am in entire agreement with what she says. They are the
wives of men out of employment — women who would not be,
and ought not to be, in the labour market if their men-folk
were either at work or sufficiently paid when they were at
work. These women are the casual wage- earners — supple-
mentary workers — driven often to sell their labour for any price
they can get. Others not entirely dependent on their own
earnings will agree to the same price. Both these classes increase
unfairness of prices, and constitute in themselves not only an
economic factor in our problem, but also indirectly affect the
provision for the employment of men. Of course I do not mean
that we should not relieve cases of distress arising from these
two classes ; the only thing you can do with people who are
starving is to feed them, and whatever economic theories we
may hold, we all agree that we cannot keep starving women and
children waiting for a meal while we are re-organising our

industrial system. But I think we ought as far as possible to
eliminate the women in these classes from consideration when
we are devising remedial measures. We come now to the third
and I think most important class, namely, women engaged in
the season and fashion trades. In these trades — as most of us
know — much anxiety and terrible hardships are experienced by
large numbers of women through the irregular distribution of
their work over ihe year. In many of these trades heavy spells
of work and excessive hours of labour are followed by periods of
slackness, and often by complete idleness. During these periods
numbers of women and girls are dismissed, and they have to
shift for themselves as best they can, and serious results ensue,
both physical and moral. A systematic enquiry into the season and
fashion trades was made some years ago by the Scottish Council
for Women's Trades, and we found many of them, such as the
upholstery and furniture trades, the boot and shoe trades, the
imibrella trades, paper bag making, and brush making all em-
ploying large numbers of women who had three or four months
of complete idleness every year. In many cases girls were paid
off altogether, the girls being thrown entirely on their own
resources after having been employed at a wage that left them
no margin for saving. I know — and I am very glad to say that
I know — that there are many firms who recognise in the most
generous and honourable fashion their moral responsibility to
their workers — who labour for them during the busy season — and
these firms continue to make up stock through the slack season
rather than pay them off. But in many cases this is not done,
and this is specially difficult where the season trade is also the
fashion trade. The tailoring trade, which employs a very large
number of women, is pre-eminently a season trade, and the slack
time in it may last from three to six months. In the tailoring
trade the swing of the pendulum is very marked indeed. For
"example, in the busy season (I am speaking of Scotland, of course)
the wages in some cases may average 20s. per week, while
during the slack season they might sink to 9s. or los. In
other shops they may drop from i8s. to 8s., or from
15s. to 5s. Again, there are cases in which a wage of
9s. or ICS. may reach the vanishing point altogether for
several months in the year. Obviously such irregularities in the
trade must constitute a demoralising influence on the workers.
As one woman said to me, It is slavery onc-half of the year,
and starvation the other." Coming to remedies, with regard to
the nature of the work to be provided I think there are several
points to be kept in view. In the first place, it should be useful

and productive work. Nothing is more demoralising than useless
and unproductive work. It must also be work conducted on a
sound, commercial basis so that the worker feels she is giving
honest value for the sum she receives. Thirdly, she must see that
she does not compete unfairly with the workers engaged in these
trades, otherwise we would only be exchanging one set of un-
employed women for another set. It is indeed no easy task to
find work that shall combine all these requirements, but among
the schemes that suggest themselves it seems to me that the farm
and labour colonies offer the greatest possibilities and the widest
range, and therefore contribute to the solution of the problem of
getting people back to the land of which so much is said with
so little done in this direction. I should like to express the hope
that provision may be made for women in the starting of muni-
cipal dairy farms. I do not know how far it is practicable in
London — probably it does not come within the scope of practical
politics here. But I think that whilst providing healthy and
suitable employment for a class of women (not a very large
class, it is true) in the distribution of produce, it would on
the other hand provide an adequate milk supply for the
children of the poor in these cities who are trying to grow
up on cheap tea. There is a steady demand for dairy produce, and
how this is increasing may be realised from the fact that in 1903
Great Britain imported dairy produce — butter, cheese, eggs and
bacon — to the value of ;f 48,000,000 sterling. All these things we
have the climate and soil to produce ourselves. The farm colony
scheme is capable of indefinite extension, and such occupations
as the rearing of poultry and market gardening would absorb
large numbers of women and draw them off from the unskilled
trades. And surely there are also other undertakings which a
large population could enter into, such as municipal workshops
where we should ensure that the making of clothing was carried
on under wholesome conditions. Finally I venture to think that
systematic investigation into the trades should form an essential
part of the work of Distress Committees and others dealing with
Unemployment. Of course in dealing with these delicate
economic problems we know we cannot do without much accurate
and detailed information. (Applause).

The President : I am sorry to say that Miss Cheetham of
West Ham and the Canning Town Settlement is unable to be
present this morning on account of illness. I will ask the Hon.
Lily Montagu to speak to you now.

The Hon. Lily Montagu : I have been asked to speak to
you about the unemployment of girls. Out of 340 girls wha

have come under my notice, 275 girls are out of employment
during some period of the year. I think Miss Black said that
these girls are often unfit through temperament, and the character
of their qualifications to enter domestic service. Very few of
these girls are unemployed for any considerable length of time.
Perhaps it is due to local contingencies, but as a rule, the longest
period would be about three months. The cause of the unemploy-
ment is as a general rule the want of a skilled trade, or, perhaps,
even more the want of skill in their trade. That is one cause,
but far more important and more difficult to deal with is the
slackness inevitable in season trades. We ask how the girls live,
and the reply is, they live on " tick." They get into debt in every
direction. I ask you to consider how terribly demoralising, how
miserable, such a condition of life is. They have to get their
clothes ; they have to get everything they need by weekly pay-
ments, and they never seem to get altogether disentangled.
Saving is difficult on account of lowness of wages, and we have
also to consider that we cannot regard them as units. We have
to regard them as members of families, and we must remember
they are obliged to help at home whenever they have work. And
the difficult part about work where season trades prevail —
the difficult and harassing problem — is that season trades
are so often general, and that the unemployment of the whole
family prevails simultaneously. Whenever a girl is unemployed
for any time, however short, she must necessarily have a feeling
of cheapness which makes against self respect. There is
amongst our working girls a most extraordinary power, a power
which, I think, should make us very humble indeed — the power
of resisting evil. This power comes directly from the struggles
they have to endure. They have an extraordinary self-respect,
but at the same time we know that the want of employment,
the going from place to place tends to their setting less value
on their individuality. At such periods they are told they
are not wanted, and that makes them careless as regards personal
habits. This must have a weakening effect upon their moral grit.
They need healthy pleasures, and at such times, as they have told
me again and again, they feel the desire for excitement come
upon them much more than at other times. At such a meeting
as this we dare not ignore this problem. The girls during these
periods of short work lose quickness — lose skill. The miserable
search for employment makes them think less of their work, and
after all, the working life of a girl is the most important part of
her life. It is a terrible thing for England that these periods of
slackness make her think of her work with less respect. And

then, we have the economic point of view to remember — that
girls, as a rule, prefer semi -starvation to starvation, and therefore
they are willing at such times to take less money in order to live
somehow and give something at home. And can we expect much
more ? If we consider remedies at all, we find the only thing to
be done is to give the girls an opportunity of being trained in a
sense of citizenship — in the immense importance they are to each
other — by enabling them to acquire greater skill at the start of
life, by appealing to the parents to make still greater sacrifices
in order to let their girls go into a proper trade instead of picking
up pennies anyhow in unskilled work. We can only get on by
getting the girls to organise more, by getting agencies to organise
employment bureaux, and so forth, and by raising the school age
so as to prevent so much of the work being done by the nimble
fingers of young children. The waste of life that exists, the
general moral deterioration, from whatever cause, should make
us consider with the very greatest thought all these remedies
(Applause).

Miss Wilson, speaking on behalf of the Boot and Shoe
Trade Union, Leicester, said that one cause of the want of
employment among women and girls was the keenness of
competition amongst employers of labour. In the boot and
shoe trade wages were never so low as at the present time.
Owing to the introduction of a new system one girl could now
do the whole of the work that previously required a machinist
and two or three fitters, women's wages thus being brought
down in a few months to a very low level. If every woman
belonged to a trade union such results need not follow.
(Applause.) Skilled workers who had thus been thrown out of
employment would in all probability never get work in their
own trade again. Where a woman used to earn 17s. or i8s. a
week, girls now did as much for ys. or 8s. Such a state of
affairs was a happy hunting ground for the bad employer, and it
was totally impossible for the good manufacturer to compete in
the market. In some branches of the boot and shoe trade work
was carried on to eight o'clock all the year round, but in others
the women worked only half the time — sometimes less. Many
of the members of the trade union only earned 8s. or 9s. a week,
and much of the men's labour was drafted into the women's
department. If this were not so more women would be
employed, and it would be much worse for the men, because
many wives were compelled to go out to work in order to keep
their families. That made it much worse for the single woman.
As the girls worked the same long hours as the women on going

straight from the school to the factory, it was impossible to send
them to night schools. The branches in which the workers
were organised paid much better wages than those which were
unorganised, but they had not yet got a standard wage for
women. Women ought to get as much as men for doing the
same work. The speaker, in continuing her remarks, com-
mented on the inferior type of boot now produced, and went on
to refer to the health of the girls suffering as a direct conse-
quence of the wretched wages they received, many of them
having to live on bread or buns and tea. It was all very well
to sneer about women living on buns and tea, but how could
they live on beefsteak when they earned only five shillings a
week? These girls often had stunted intellects because they
had not the courage, ability or desire to learn after walking
about for months in search of work. As for the married women,
the speaker thought they should have quite enough to do ta
bring up their children without having to work in the factory.
There would not be so many public-houses if the mothers stayed
at home and kept it comfortable and clean, but it was simply
impossible at the present time for a man to keep his wife and
children at home with the present rate of wages. It was the
duty of the State to assist the trades unions, If the trades
unions were assisted, and workpeople compelled to join them,
they would do the work for which they were instituted, and
they could raise the price of labour, and no one need be a black-
leg. (Hear, hear.) A poor law guardian had told her (the
speaker) that not one out of fifty applying for relief was a
member of a trades union. If no children were employed under
fourteen years of age there would be less unemployment among
the adult women. Everyone ought to get a fair living, but
many men seemed to think that women were only born for their
profit. Men had never done their duty in forcing women to
become trades unionists — for it was a duty, as it took a terrible
lot to encourage women. A reconstruction of society was
needed in order to remedy those evils. These workers had no
right to mint money for their employers' profits, and therefore
they should be compelled to organise themselves. The speaker
concluded with an earnest appeal to ladies present to do their
utmost to get workers to organise themselves.

Mrs. Brown, as a representative of the Central Committee
of the Women's Co-operative Guild, claimed to look on the
matter as an employer of labour, and said that through that
movement they were able to find a way to remove some of the
difficulties in connection with the unemployment of women*

They employed a great number of girls and women, and she
(the speaker) ventured to say that the conditions of their
employment were such as to prevent slackness of trade. It was
purely a question of organisation. By combining together to
produce for themselves they were able to bring about those
excellent conditions. They were setting at the present time a
minimum of los. a week for girls over eighteen, and for those
over twenty-one a minimum of i6s. Many of their women
workers had gone into the matter, and contended that the
amount was not sufficient. They must, however, take the
matter step by step, and set a low minimum capable of being
raised. In their factories the girls worked forty-five hours a
week, and the average wage worked out at present at 12s. for
girls over eighteen. The speaker mentioned these points not as
an advertisement of the Women's Co-operative Guild, but to
emphasise the necessity of combining. With reference to
married women, they did not employ them, but they employed
widows. The widow had home duties to perform, but she had
not her husband's support. Much might be done by the outside
public to remedy the evils they deplored by making it possible
for the workers to have sufficient time to do their work in.
Ladies too often wanted their things in a hurry, and dressmakers
and girls in the clothing world worked late at night and had
many hardships to put up with. Was there any necessity for
laundries to be slack on Monday — was it not possible for ladies
to send their work on Monday ? (Hear, hear.)

Mrs. Macrosty : It is quite unnecessary for me to point
out the connection between season trades and unemployment.
Everyone here understands that a woman who is employed for
only a portion of the year suffers acutely from underfeeding, and
also from that curious, malevolent moral influence which arises
from periods of very hard work alternating with periods of idle-
ness. I am here, however, to state facts — certain facts which
have been collected by the members and friends of the Women's
Labour League in order that they should be laid before this
Conference. We have found that a large number of women
workers are not fully employed during the whole year. Indeed,
if we except domestic servants and perhaps mill workers, we can
say that a large majority of women workers suffer from a period
of depression, generally three or four months in the year, during
which time their work ceases altogether, or else their earnings
are reduced to one-half. It is true there are some men's trades
— the building trade, for example, the members of which suffer
in the same way, but not, we think, to the same extent. Womea

liardly ever earn enough to tide them over the time when the
rfactories are closed and the workroom empty of work, and there
is always a long period of half- employment which precedes or
follows the time of complete unemployment. Saving is thus
rendered an absolute impossibility. The woman has nothing to
fall back upon ; what then does she do ? The Women's Labour
League asked this question, among others, in the course of its
inquiries : " How do the workers keep themselves during the
rslack season ? " and the answer came with pathetic persistence,
" Get into debt." Yes. Apparently very few of our women
^engaged in seasonal trades are ever free from debt. The money
earned in busy seasons pays off rent which a good landlady has
allowed to accumulate when the girl is unemployed, and possibly
also to pay for the tea, bread and butter, which is all that she
dare allow herself for four months in the year. The pleasure of
earning money is damped by the knowledge that her tiny
-margin is earmarked. It is spent before she receives it. She
is working not for some delight she may have seen in the shops
• — a winter fur or a new summer hat—but for the dis-
tasteful task of repaying money already spent in the bare
necessities of life — money borrowed when she was starving. The
"trades about which the Women's Labour League has collected
information, and which are more or less season trades, are
■dressmakers, milliners, mantle-makers, artificial flower makers,
feather curlers, makers of large cardboard boxes, jam workers,
pickle fillers, seed sorters, fruit-basket makers, fashion cutters,
machine hands in the cycle trade, felt hat trimmers, tailoresses,
Christmas cracker makers, law printers, servants at seaside resorts,
waterproof garment makers, and laundresses. Everyone, we
think, knows all about the slack season in the dressmaking
trade. It is understood that in the Spring and in the Autumn we
find it necessary to purchase new dresses. We wonder how many
people have taken the trouble to inquire as to what happens to
the dressmaker in January, February and March, and in August
-and September, when new dresses are not made, and when La
Mode has not definitely decided the shape of the summer or
winter sleeve. A suburban dressmaker's assistant who is a
practised skirt and bodice hand earns during the busy season,
I2S. a week. During January, February and September she may
earn about 6s. a week ; during August she probably earns nothing
.at all. Therefore her yearly income is less than £2^. She has no
food from her employer except, perhaps, a cup of tea in the
afternoon. A clever visiting dressmaker, earning a little more
money, viz., 2/6 a day, and in very great request, earned last year

£il los. She had, in addition to the 2/6, her tea and dinner on
the 188 days when she was working. She told me that she
could easily have worked 250 days if her work had been spread
more evenly through the year. A lady to whom we are very-
much indebted has given us some very valuable informatioi^.
concerning the slack season in the wholesale millinery trade»
Her assistants seem to be exceptionally well treated and paid,,
but even so, their work lasts only about 22 to 25 weeks — from*
February to May, and from the middle of August to the middle
of October. During the slack season, lasting five months-
more or less, one-third of the workers are discharged, and the
rest earn one-third of their usual wages. She adds, however,,
that in many factories nearly all the workers are discharged.
Here, then, we have a trade employing many thousands of
women which is active only six months in the year. The mantle
maker is in scarcely better plight. She is busy from February ta
May, and from September to November — perhaps six months
altogether. During the other months, work is slack for a good
worker — she is probably on half or three-quarter time, and she
takes three weeks' holiday without pay. The second-rate worker
earns nothing at all during the slack season. Here, then, is-
another trade which is active for only six months in the year.
The list might be indefinitely extended. We have the uphol-
stress, who works from September to November, and from Easter
to the beginning of May ; she is slack for nearly seven months.
Sometimes during this period she may make an occasional 4s. a.
week. but the work is gained by much weary waiting at the
factory — waiting, too, in absolute idleness, because the workers^
are not allowed to read or sew. We might take the jam workers^
busy in July, August, September, and either June or Octoberj,
and for marmalade making in February. There are several
thousand jam workers. We have the tailoresses — some of them,
work throughout the year, others, especially in country districts,
seem to be slack for half the year, earning during this time
perhaps half their usual wages. If they earn 12s. a week in the
summer, it is 7s. in the winter, when coal is dear and good food
is more necessary. We have the machine-hand in the cycle trade
at Coventry and other places busy from December to July ; for
seven months the workers earn 12s. a week ; for the other five:
months they earn, if they are lucky, 3s. a week. There are the
makers of waterproof garments, busy between Whitsun and
November, and the workers are entirely out of work for the
other four months. Felt-hat trimmers are slack for four months.
Probably, however, the great sufferers from season trades are the

workers in seaside resorts — the servants, laundresses and other
workers who minister to the wants of holiday makers during'
July and August. A schoolmaster on the east coast has written
to say that he cannot give any idea of the distress and misery
which exists in east coast resorts during the winter. The baker
never refuses bread, but ultimately he is afraid that the continu-
ous running up of debt will break him. It is debt and distress
— distress and debt. They go hand in hand with season trades.

The meeting was then declared open for discussion.

Rev. Thomas Jackson, a representative of the Whitechapel
Board of Guardians, protested against reproachful references
being made to charity, and said it would mean starvation if
charitable agencies were withdrawn. With regard to domestic
service, it was not so much the unsuitability of the girl, but the
unsuitability of the work to present-day ideals of girls which
presented a problem. The speaker favoured a minimum wage
fixed by Parliament and the creation of a sustentation fund.

Mrs. Murray (Bow and Bromley) maintained that it was
impossible for a woman in the City of London to earn anything
like a living wage in factories. There were only two courses
open to women — prostitution and starvation.

Mrs. MoNTEFiORE spoke of the Hollesley Bay Colony from
the point of view of women. She was told by the gentleman in
charge of the Colony that on the 1,300 acres there was room for
100 families to be settled. It might be possible perhaps for
some of these cottages to be colonised by women sent down to
work municipal dairy establishments, laundry establishments,
and others in which model conditions of labour might be shown
to be possible. It might be shown that women could get
remunerative employment and that that employment need not
be useless work, but on the other hand work of great use to the
community. The work at Hollesley Bay, although done under
difficult conditions, was remunerative, for they were making
two blades of grass grow where one had grown before. Although
not a panacea, it was an immediate help to those needing help
now. If the people said, " We will it,'' they would have women
on their Borough and County Councils ; and then they would
perhaps soon help their fellow-sisters who are working under
such terrible conditions.

Miss Smith, Superintendent of Women's Work Central
Unemployed Body, London, said that 120 women were employed
in the three workrooms of that body in St. Pancras, Camberwell
and Poplar Every application was carefully looked into, but of
course there were a number of applications in excess of vacancies.
They were employed in needlework.

Sister Kerrison spoke of the work of the West Ham Distress
Committee. Four members, with the assistance of Miss Cheetham,
who was an expert on the question, drew up a scheme by which
each woman would earn ten shillings per week. It was sent to
the Local Government Board, but the President said he had no
money to work it. The speaker thought that some of the money
of the Local Government Board ought to be earmarked for
schemes of that sort.

A Delegate : Why apply to the Local Government Board ?

Sister Kerrison : Our money was pledged entirely up to the
hilt, and we thought we had a special claim on the Local
Government Board.

Miss Margaretta Hicks, of the St. Pancras Committee, at-
tributed the cause of unemployment to over-production. More
than 1800 millions a year was produced in value, but only 690
millions of the produce of the country was paid in wages, a
little more than a third. However prosperous the conditions
were, the greater the production the greater the amount of un-
employment. The raising of wages affected the question a little,
but if they were to do away with unemployment, they should see
that those who produce the value of wealth should receive the
value of it.

Mrs. Despard : I think it is the most difficult thing in the
world — I have been in the midst of all this for many years — -to
speak on this subject with calmness. What I wish to address
myself to is this — we must all come to this opinion — that every-
thing that has been proposed to-day has been proposed over and
over again in Conferences such as this, in Meetings and Societies
all over England. All that has been proposed in this way is
merely a palliative. I think we ought to have workshops in
which boys and girls can be trained for the work of their lives ;
but it should be skilled and not unskilled labour. We know
perfectly well that fathers and mothers have the greatest diffi-
culty in providing for their children — it is absolutely necessary
that the State should take up the question ; the parents cannot
do it. I must say that, situated as women are just now, it is rather
impertinent of the men to speak as they do of putting married
women out of the market altogether. There is no one who would
approve of that more than I do if life were properly constituted.
Woman, during the years she is bringing up children, finds that
they require all her care. But what does this mean ? It means
you make the woman absolutely dependent upon the man. If
you make motherhood a profession — as it is a profession — it
might be possible. In days of slack time, taxes on commodities

weigh so heavily on the married woman as to affect not only her
children, but also herself and her husband. Therefore, as things
are, we cannot, however much we want to, put out the married
woman. I believe intensely in Trades Unionism, but will the
Trades Unions consider clearly what they are doing ? I do not
say it is not right that they should provide for those who are
starving. It is perfectly right. But what are they doing ? They
are keeping an unemployed army waiting for the time when
there is one of these booms. And finally, we have competition
in all these things. Trades Unionism will not do away with
this. Co-operators are not co-operators as they are organised at
present, but if they went on some broader platform, they might
solve the question. They are examples of industrial progress.
We are all doing all we can to help the cause in our own par-
ticular ways, but we have all faculties that we do not use. We
want the world to be built up afresh, and we must do everything
we can to see how that is to come about. (Applause.)

Mrs. Graves (Hammersmith) thought it a pity Delegates
did not come forward with some remedy.

The President said proposals with regard to remedies was
the subject of the afternoon session. They were now learning
something of the conditions of different trades.

Mrs. Graves was in favour of keeping the foreigners out of
the country, and contended that the competition of foreigners
reduced wages. The remedy they needed was protection. (Loud
hisses.)

Mrs. Graves : Oh, I am quite used to all that, but I don't
mind. When we get protection we will get the benefit, but not
until then. (More hisses.)

The President : I think we must allow free speech.

Mrs. Crawford, as a Poor Law Guardian of ten years'
standing, wished to impress upon the meeting her belief that the
Poor Law did nothing to palliate or prevent poverty. If it did,
it did it in such a manner that it was more degrading than
helpful. As a rule, when women went into the workhouses for
a few months they lost morally and physically. She (the
speaker) would sooner recommend a woman to go to prison to
improve her position than go to the workhouse. (Hear, hear.)

Miss HoARE said that in Winchester a large number of boys
and girls were now employed in shops instead of women. What
was wanted was a School of Household Training.

Mrs. Sheldon Amos regarded the employment of children as
almost a form of cruelty, and advocated a tax upon the employ-
ment of children, graduated according to age.

Mr. Leonard Humphreys commented on girls leaving
school so often preferring work in factories to ordinary domestic
service.

Mr. J. O. Devereux, speaking of emigration, said they did
not want to part with the best in their country. There was
plenty of hope, scope and labour for them in England, if only
properly organised. Too often in many families the time was
looked forward to when the child would be bringing in a small
pittance. Abolish child labour, stop married women from
working, and then the only salvation of the workers would be
Trades Unionism. The best protection they could get was
Trades Unionism.

Rev. J. E. Hand said the alien enriched our civilisation, and
spoke of the virtues of the Jew. The result to aim at was the
economic independence of women. He did not wish to hear so
much condemnation of the married women, seeing that in many
cases the children would not be able to find bread but for the
work of the mother.

Mrs. J. Ramsay MacDonald, replying to a remark of the
previous speaker, said that at the Office of the Apprenticeship
and Skilled Employment Association, 55, Denison House,
Vauxhall Bridge Road, the work of directing girls leaving
school into desirable work was taken up.

Mrs. HiGGS, of Oldham, said she was slowly coming to a
revolutionary opinion — that until motherhood was recognised as
3. profession nothing could be done. If that were brought about,
there would naturally follow training in the schools for mother-
hood.

The President said it would be impossible to frame a
resolution to meet the case. What they wanted to do was to see
what was possible, and how to make that possibility a certainty.

A vote of thanks to Mrs. Cadbury for presiding concluded
the Morning Session.

The Afternoon Session began at 2 o'clock, Mrs. Creighton
presiding.

The President announced that the Women's Industrial Council
thought it wise neither to propose nor accept any resolution at
this Conference She also announced that Miss MacArthur was
unable to be present to speak on " Labour Exchanges and Trade
Unions " on behalf of the Women's Trade Union League, and
that Mrs. Redford, of the Manchester Distress Committee, was
kept away by illness.

Fraiilein Alice Salomon, in giving an account of " Labour

Bureaux in Germany," said that within the last few decades the
principle had gained general assent in Germany that employment
bureaux should not be in the hands of private individuals, as the
Tvorkers were often excluded by high fees and were defenceless
a-gainst unjust extortions. They held it absolutely essential to
have labour agencies the aim of which should not be private
gain, but the benefit of the entire community. These labour
^bureaux ought not to be maintained by one of the commercial
interests, but should be representative of workers and employers,
and this for the simple reason that there should be no struggle
between those wanting work and those seeking workers for the
mastery. Where such agencies were subservient to the employers'
needs, they had an unfavourable effect on work and wages. If
they were carried on, on the other hand, in the interests of the
trade unions, employers in any case would dislike to make use
of them, and would do so as little as possible ; in time of de-
pression, when there was most need for them, they would not be
used by employers at all. Trades union bureaux were therefore
not developed in Germany. Labour bureaux ought to be looked
upon as a function of the municipal and public bodies ; they
should be ranked amongst the branches of civil administration.
The German Government had contrived to bring about in all
the larger towns the establishment of such neutral labour bureaux,
not starting them itself, but leaving free play to initiative. In
the whole of the Southern part of Germany such bureaux had
been established and organised by the Town Council, whereas
in the Northern part the founders of like institutions had been
^societies interested in the promotion of their own wealth. Their
management was always the same, being exercised by representa-
tives of workers and employers under neutral chairmanship.
Most of them belonged to the unions connected with the trades.
In larger towns they were organised in two special sections — one
for men and one for women. In certain important skilled trades
there were special departments carried on only by those belong-
ing to the trade. Generally here was no charge to worker or
'employer but sometimes there was a small fee charged, chiefly
for the sake of facilitating the federation of workers. In times of
strike a bureau was either continued or discontinued according
to which side had the power ; if the bureau was suspended, it
was against the employers, and vice versa. So far these bureaux
had done their best for workers and skilled labourers, and had
benefited the unskilled labourers also. Within the past few years
a change had been brought about by the movement for linking
up the bureaux of the provinces and of the cities, and the rail-

ways and telephones had been made use of for the bureaux^
Lists of workers were now exchanged several times a week, and
bureaux entered into telephonic communication with each other
for the purpose of bringing unemployed workers and employers
together. Such a network of employment bureaux spread over
the whole country was of benefit in times of unemployment due
to diminishing prosperity or seasonal unemployment, and the
transition from a decaying industry to a flourishing one was
rendered easy ; labour was thereby diverted to the best market.
In making use of such facilities, however, the women appeared
to be behind the men. That was because young female workers
were harder to mobilise than men ; they were unwilling to leave
their posts and only did so under pressure of extreme necessity,
this being due almost entirely to the natural instincts and feel-
ings of women. Their earning power was affected thereby, and
often did not afford them the meanest living wage. The woman
worker was placed at a great disadvantage in Germany as
compared with the man, and it was to the labour bureaux that
they looked for provision being made for higher wages and an
increased standard of comfort, often possible to the female worker
only by going to a distant centre. These labour bureaux would^
it was hoped, prove full of usefulness in that direction, but im-
proved conditions could only be carried out as a direct result of
women's movement of to-day. (Applause).

Mr. Beveridge thought that both at home and in Germany
and in other highly civilised countries people had to give their
minds to a new problem. In the mediaeval stage of industry a
workman had to get to a little centre and stay there all his life^
whereas now industry was in a state of perpetual flux. Modem
workmen and workwomen had many things to do, but the
mediaeval workman had but one thing to do — to satisfy his
employer. The modern workman was continuall}' finding and
following the markets of his labour, and the more time he spent
on doing that the less he had to spend on his actual work ;
consequently he was less efficient as a workman. It was
perfectly clear that the isolated workman tramping about more
or less constantly from factory gate to factory gate was doing
the thing in a wasteful and uneconomic manner. They needed
in London a public market place for labour, but the chief
trouble was that the interests of employer and employee were
directly opposed. If a public market place for labour were set
up it would be looked upon with a good deal of suspicion by
both classes — in London, at any rate. But a market place
should not affect prices adversely ; a market place was supposed

to regulate prices, and there was no reason why it should injure
or benefit one party to the advantage or expense of another.
What was true in the abstract was borne out in Germany by
concrete experience. There the trades unions had started by
being very suspicious of the labour exchange, but in many cases
they were coming round to strong, practical support of the
public labour bureaux. Of course, the waste involved in the
search for work fell most heavily upon the workman, and if he
was a unionist, on his union. It was therefore directly in the
interests of trades unions to get such labour markets properly
organised. If the trades union could do it itself, that was what
it would like to do most — to have the labour market under its
own control, lay down its own conditions, and so forth. That
was a desirable aim, but a perfectly impossible one, for one
•could not have a labour l^ureau to serve two parties if it were
run in the interests of one. It should be run as a market-place,
and have the confidence of both parties. The great thing was
impartial management. Where the trades unions had run
-employment bureaux themselves in Germany their exchanges
were only used by the worst class of employers, who would
break their engagements with the men. The employer was not
lilcely to put himself in the hands of an institution which would
be used against him. That was the principle, and there was
not the least doubt that it should be applied— -that the market-
place should be managed impartially. Personally he would go
further. The great difficulty that presented itself to-day was
that people so often stood alone, unorganised — they had no one
to help them. They could not join together for the purpose of
mutual assistance ; they were the people who troubled the
public with the Unemployed Workmen Act, and so on. In many
trades and occupations there was no centre round which they
•could begin to organise. The effect of the market-place was to
bring people together for purposes of mutual benefit. All they
could do was to urge the abstract argument in favour of labour
exchanges, and then the strong, practical arguments which one
heard as to what had been done in Germany.

Mrs. HiGGS (Oldham) spoke on " Lodgings for Women in
Search of Work." One of the reasons, she said, why society so
little recognised the terrible need of homeless women was that
in the main the woman of the upper classes was not conscious of
the changes the industrial revolution had made. Women's lives
were so surrounded by ties of kinship and friendship that it was
not until they were practically destitute that they realised how
little what they called environment counted for. Another factor

in the industrial revolution was the lessening of individual
responsibility. Women would generously send money to a distant
relative or friend, but a widowed mother might go from daughter
to daughter and not be able to live with any of them. That led
to the third factor in the industrial revolution — the homelessness
of individuals, and another was the increased cost, not only of
homes, but of lodgings. A bed for a single woman cost 6d. a
night, or 3s. 6d. a week, in London and large towns, and in
smaller towns 4d. a night, or 2s. 4d. a week, and this was only a
common lodging house. Decent lodgings were hard to obtain, and
women workers had little time to search for them. Lastly,
another condition of the industrial revolution was to send
women in search of employment into the large centres of
population. The story of many a poor fallen one often began,
I came to seek work," and ended, " I fell among thieves." One
could not overlook another outcome of the industrial revolution
— the vast army of men, young and in the prime of life,
unattached. Nor could they overlook the woman, who, as her
last asset, when all was gone, sold herself. Lodging homes for
women were needed in all our large towns to prevent the last
process of national deterioration.

Miss Adler, in a plea for the " Limitation of Child Labour,'^
said the close relation between home labour and unemployment
was not always apparent to the casual observer. The twa
problems, child labour and unemployment, acted and re-acted
on each other. The limitation of child labour would have a
favourable effect on the casual worker. It was important to
distinguish between men's and women's work. Women's work
was prejudiced by the competition of boys and girls. The
report of the Inter -Departmental Committee of 1891 showed
300,000 children were employed in England and Wales, and
subsequent investigation had revealed no material decrease.
The Employment of Children Act had not done all that was
anticipated from that measure. The speaker quoted a number
of facts and figures to show the extent to which clnld labour was
carried on, and instanced a number of trades at which women
could earn a fair living if children were not sent out, but owing
to their competition they were debarred from doing so. In street
trading alone 25,000 children were engaged, and this was an
occupation, in the speaker's opinion, extremely detrimental to
the children themselves. Out of the 713 children engaged in
street trading in Birmingham, 458 were charged in six months
with various offences. The speaker supported her contention as
to the harm done to women's industries by child labour by

referring to the evidence given before the recent Committee on
Home Work, and mentioned that little girls of six were engaged
in the Nottingham lace trade, also alluding to children, only
three years old, linking on hooks and eyes, and children of four
or five engaged in matchbox making. There was legislation to-
stop this evil, continued Miss Adler, but unfortunately it was
not always put in force. As it became more difficult to employ
children, the value of adult labour increased.

The President referred to the loss the cause of women had
suffered through the death by drowning last summer of Mrs.
Oakeshott, who when the Conference was projected had promised
to speak on " The Possibilities of Better Trade Training." The
subject would be dealt with by Miss Helen Smith, of the
Borough Polytechnic, London, S.E.

Miss Smith, speaking on the decay of apprenticeship, said that
when young apprentices were put to work under a skilled hand,
there was no guarantee that the skilled hand was a teacher. The
young learner was as a rule kept too long at the elementary
processes. That was only natural, because she could do those
processes quickly, and it would take time for another girl to reach
the same standard. Originality or inventiveness was not wanted.
The main object of firms was to get their hands to go through
their work quickly ; industrial education was not their concern.
If, however, they were to have a skilled independent worker —
one able to withstand the fluctuations of trade — apprenticeship
must be supplemented by instruction. She must not be allowed
to pick up her trade anyhow ; she must be taught it. The remedy
was to be found in the technical classes all over the country.
Why did not these help the woman ? For some years many of them
had tried to supplement shop training with classes for women in
which they could be instructed in the principles of their work-
But more and more one came to see that it was unworkable and
undesirable. In the first place, the hours in women's trades
were too long. Woman's physique was not adapted to work in
the evening at the same trade as in the day. Many who were
enthusiastic over trade classes overlooked that fact. If such
instruction could not be given in the evening, only one thing
remained — the worker must receive the trade instruction after she
left school, and before she went into the workroom. This was
being tried under the auspices of the London County Council. To
prolong the school life for two years gave a girl many advantages,
moral and physical ; she was better able to stand on her own
feet, and to know what to shun when in the workroom. Then
she should receive not only trade instruction, but general educa-

tion, so that the general intelligence which was absolutely
necessary if the changing conditions of trade were to be followed
with any degree of mental alertness, might be developed. There
must be some intelligence at the back of those fingers in order to
notice whether a trade was dying out, and to learn some sub-
sidiary trade ; that must come from general intelligence, and not
from trade instruction. Then it was possible to give artistic
training. A well-organised school could give a girl some of the
advantages of secondary schools — a training in self-culture. And
then, when at 15 or 16 she went into the workroom, she would
be altogether different from the raw, untrained girl from the
elementary school. The training must be done in the training
school ; in the workroom, work must be done to time. It had
been proved that she would soon learn the elementary processes,
and much more advanced work would then be required of her
when she went into the workroom. She must then know some-
thing of the joy of craftsmanship because she would assist
in a piece of work from the beginning to the end — hear the
customer's criticisms, make the necessary alterations, be left to
design for herself and asked to make suggestions. Everything
should be done to make it possible to encourage the girl in her
special craft. In fact, she should become an all-round worker,
and become adaptable. The girl would learn there were more
ways than one of doing things, and when she went to the work-
room she would adapt herself to the particular method. The
great objection was raised that trades could not be taught in a
class-room, but that applied more to men's trades, such as
engineering. Women's trades were mostly connected with the
needle and allied industries. Needlework trades could very well
be taught in the class-room. Some things could not be taught in
the class-room ; speed could not be taught, but a few months in
the workroom would correct that. Again, why should not girls
in the workroom be allowed to go back to the school in the
slack time ? They would have learned bv actual experience in
the workroom what actual trade requirements were. That would
lead to combination of workroom and class-room. The speaker
thought that in the future less trade work would be given in the
trade school and more general preparation given for a trade life.
They would turn out girls who would at once have definite
market value. (Applause).

Mrs. J. Ramsay MacDonald : The prohibition of overtime
is a very small palliative to ask for, but in planning our pro-
gramme for this afternoon session the Women's Industrial
Council wanted to cover the lines of attack from different points

of view, so as to make suggestions for all of us to carry out.
The more we gain knowledge of this matter, the more we see
that the whole idea of the place of women in society as workers
ought to be altered. We have to see which woman should be
called to work outside, and which should be left to do her work
at home ; and in order to carry out that changed idea, 1 think
we must ask for a big reorganisation of industry, for nothing
else will meet the problem we are talking of to-day. Meanwhile
it will not hinder us at all, and it will indeed teach us and help
us towards realising these bigger ideals if we do the little things
that come to hand and lead on to the bigger changes, and do
something to smooth the way for the individuals who are at
present suffering such great evils. And one of these trivial small
things is the legal prohibition of overtime. We heard this morn-
ing over and over again,with almost wearisome reiteration, that
one of the great evils of the employment of women was the
seasonal unemployment. In town after town, and trade after
trade, we heard of women being out for weeks and months in
the year, and we heard from Miss Montagu and others the moral
and physical effects on those girls' outlook on life. And the other
side of that picture is that it is in the seasonal trades that
overtime is allowed to be worked in the busy season. By law
we allow our girls to work, with an hour and a half for meal
times, from six to six, seven to seven, or eight to eight ; but by
law we say twelve hours is not enough for a stretch, and we
allow them to have two hours' extra stretch thirty days in the
year, not more than three times a week. That is, I think,
quite unnecessary, and if that were done away with, it would
take away much of the rush and hardship of the busy season,
and spread the work more evenly over the year. In the Factory
Inspector's Report of last year we find that 191,608
reports were sent in from over 16,000 establishments
as to overtime work. In each of these several workers
might have been employed — in some a great many.
So you get thousands of workers working beyond their
10^ hours in busy times, and I am afraid that most of those who
know anything about the facts are of opinion that a great deal
escapes the Inspectors, and we need a far bigger staff of Inspectors
to attack the overtime evil. Very often overtime is the result of
thoughtlessness on the part of customers — well-to-do customers
— ladies who want dresses for Ascot and do not allow time for
making them. If we could get employers to refuse to take this
rush of work, it would do a little towards saying that we should
not tolerate the overwork of women at one time of the year and

the long, dreadful periods when women cannot get enough to
enable them to keep body and soul together. (Hear, hear.)

Miss Smith (Superintendent of Women's Work, Central Un-
•employed Body, London) described the methods that had been
adopted in starting Women's Workrooms for the assistance of
women. Workrooms had been started at Camberwell, St. Pancras,
and Poplar, the total number employed at one time being 1 16. The
minimum wage paid was los. a week, and an allowance was
made for each child under 14 years of age. From the ist July,
1906, to March, 1907, there were 800 applications, but only some
300 were assisted, lack of accommodation and ineligibility,
•owing to the women having been in receipt of Poor Relief
within twelve months of application, accounting for the other
applications not being assisted. Up to the present the chief
market had been the supply of the Emigration Department of
the Central Unemployed Body with outfits. The majority of
the women were simply fitted for charing work, and their
average age was from 40 to 45 — women who had no trade at
their fingers' ends, and they were not more likely to get work
afterwards than when they came in. Yet these women had great
capacity for work in them ; it had only to be directed into the
right channel. The demand for plain needlework, however, was
very small, and one could scarcely consider the women more
iitted for business at the end of their time of instruction. Miss
Smith went on to speak of the marked physical improvement in
the women after having been in the workrooms, which she attri-
buted to systematic work and the midday meal which was pro-
vided for them, and which they could not take home. Often a
woman came in in a state of semi-starvation, and yet in a few
days her capacity for work was trebled. There were a few cases
of permanent help resulting directly from being in the work-
rooms.

Miss Hicks, of the St. Pancras Distress Committee, added
to the information given by Miss Smith as to the women's work-
rooms, and asked what right they had to Ist private contractors
make a profit out of Government work paid for out of public
rates.

Miss Rathbone, of the Liverpool Distress Committee,
described the sewing room opened in Liverpool. Each woman
received a shilling a day and her dinner. The rate of wages in
Liverpool was very low.

Mr. J. Ramsay MacDonald, M.P., said he had been asked to
take part in the Conference because he was the chairman of the
committee which started the work for women in connection with

the Central Unemployed Body. In describing the commencement
of the work, the speaker said that at that time he was strongly in
favour of a central workroom for women. Ultimately it was split
up into three, and he was now sorry it was not more. It was neces-
sary for the Women's Committee to be permanent. No body dealing
with the unemployment question as relating to men could
possibly find time to put women to work too. The next advice
he wished to give was that they should be very careful as to how
their Bills were drafted. Then they should banish from their
minds the idea that their Distress Committees were going to be
economical. Let them not be surprised when they found that
the Women's Committees did not pay. Had the Men's Com-
mittees paid ? ,,That was not the idea of the Act at all. It was
rather to supply work for certain specific purposes, namely, to
employ women, and it was not supposed to pay except in a
sociological sense. They must not face the problem of the
unemployment of women in a general way ; they must make
themselves acquainted with the specific grounds covered by the
Distress Committees. If they did not they were bound to fail.
They should regard their workrooms as an opportunity for
training rather than an opportunity for giving women work to
do which they could do before. He thought nothing was more
satisfactory than training unskilled charwomen so that they
became skilled charwomen. To find a woman who could do
cleaning properly was to supply a great want. He thought a
system of labour bureaux applying exclusively to women would
succeed very much better than any other system. Farm colonies
was a pet idea of his, and he was sorry it had not been
experimented with with regard to women. They had looked at
a farm at Wye, but the water supply was insufficient. Farm
colonies were admirable for widows with children, and by carrying
out that suggestion they would be creating an agricultural
population — just what the country wanted. In the case of
workshops, the problem was to find the market. He would
oppose any encroachment upon the outer market, and his idea
was that they should find their market in the wants of other
committees or societies having a similar object to theirs: There
were children going about practically naked at the present time.
No tailors would ever put clothing on those children's backs. If
they could devise a means of clothing those children temporarily
no harm would ensue to the outer market, but a great good
would accrue to the country. That was a suitable direction for
them to look to find the market for the output of their work-
shops ; let them apply the idea for what it was worth, only they

must not be under the impression that their workshops were
going to show a favourable balance at the end of six months.
(Applause.)

Discussion being invited,

Mrs. Charles spoke of servants' registry offices where fees
were paid, and remarked that it was a mistaken idea that
servants were able to get work at all seasons. That might be
true about the general, or only servant in an household, but it
was certainly not true of the hotel, school or head servants in
families who were able to be out of town for long periods. In
such cases servants were frequently without employment for
months at a time. All servants were not bad, nor were all
mistresses good, and the evil name given to agencies was a gross
libel on those which were run on respectable lines.

Miss Kathleen Keogh thought workrooms for the un-
employed ought to pay considerably better than they had done.
She was of opinion that a larger proportion of the work given out
by the Emigration Committee should have found its way into
their workshops. The speaker viewed farm colonies for women
as an excellent means of getting back to the land, but considered
that little could be done in that direction until they had the land
and the railways nationalised.

Miss Clara Grant remarked that nearly 7,000 widows were
maintained expensively in institutions, while there were 40,000
widows with young children outside, elbowing out the single
women. The State should come in and say, "You have lost
your husband ; we will take his place," and the consequence
would be that the single woman would be better able to get
work and fairer wages. Married women's labour needed limit-
ing in every sphere of industry except literature, art and science.
The genius that motherhood matured and ripened the world
could not afEord to lose. The speaker appealed for the creation
of skilled posts at the top of the ladder rather than constant
niggling efforts on the lowest rungs, which were always over-
crowded. More nurses in institutions were needed, more relieving
officers, more teachers — classes of 30 instead of 60 — more wives
who could keep their husbands at home. (Applause).

Miss March-Phillipps spoke of the work of the trade schools
of Italy, and favoured the training of more highly skilled workers
as a means of finding more work for the unskilled.

Mr. Anderson spoke of the harm done to children by their
mothers going out to work.

Miss Hargreaves remarked that the skilled labourer
demanded a higher standard of living than the unskilled, which
in itself created a greater demand for production.

Miss Clementina Black thought the cause of unemployment
was really poverty produced by unrestricted labour, and the
cure for it was to adopt a legal minimum wage. Hardly an
argument had been put forward that day which did not point to
that conclusion. They did not want to forbid the married
women from entering the labour market ; what they wanted was
to pay her husband so much that she would not have to go out.
Some women would do better by going out into the labour
market to earn money for someone else who would be more
suitable to look after their children. Wages were so low simply
because unrestricted competition brought them to the lowest
point. They need not presume, as some people did, that if they
raised their wages they would drive trade abroad. If they raised
the selling price they might do so, but in ninety-nine cases out
of one hundred they would not raise the selling rate by raising
wages. It had been shown over and over again that the better
paid the workers were, the more prosperous the country would
be. What did the large retailer want ? A large working-class
custom, and he could only get it out of well-paid people. The
well-paid artisan in England was the most valuable citizen
the country possessed. They need not trouble much about
educating the working man if only he were properly paid. He
would see about educating his own children, and his wife would
not want to go into the labour market. Prosperity was the cure
for unemployment, and prosperity was to be brought about by
fixing the wage for those who did the work of the country.

Mr. H. Leonard Humphreys, speaking from the gallery,
said that unemployed women ought to register themselves more
widely than at present. There was a need for greater organisa-
tion amongst the unorganised women workers throughout the
country. Lack of organisation of the unorganised was at the
root of all this cheap labour. They needed manual rather than
trade schools, where boys and girls would have an opportunity
of finding out what latent manual talent they possessed. (Hear,
hear).

Mr. Burleigh, on behalf of the Canning Town branch of
the National Amalgamated Union of Shop Assistants, expressed
surprise at the absence of any reference to the living-in system
in the programme of the Conference.

Mrs. Greenwood said that if married women were pro-
hibited from working, the Married Women's Property Act would
be practically repealed for them, and they would be placed in
the power of their husbands. The speaker thought that if
married women had to work it was much better that they should
be home workers, so as to look after their children.

Miss Clementina Black moved a vote of thanks to the
Lord Mayor and Corporation for allowing them the use of the
Council Chamber. This was seconded by Mr. Ramsay
Mac Donald, M.P., and carried.

Mrs. Creighton was accorded a vote of thanks for presiding
during the Afternoon Session, and the proceedings terminated.

The Council is following up the Conference by a memorial
to the Right Hon. John Burns, President of the Local Govern-
ment Board, in the following terms : —

Sir, — Since our Council approached you in February last about
the importance of doing something systematic for women under
the administration of the Unemployed Workmen's Act, we have
continued to study the question closely and have been responsible
for a National Conference on the Unemployment of Women and
Girls dependent on their own earnings, which was held at the
Guildhall on October 15th, and was very largely attended and
widely reported. We have now pleasure in sending you a report
of the Conference, and in bringing under your notice some of the
points there brought forward : —

(a) That in very various parts of the country, unemployment
and partial unemployment are prevalent amongst women wage-
earners, and are attended with great hardships and material and
moral waste.

(6) That very few of the Distress Committees at present da
anything systematic in the way of registering women and giving
them employment, but that where special efforts have been made
— as in London, Liverpool, and Manchester — such women have
benefited greatly.

(c) That workrooms for the making of clothing, such a&
those established in London, can be worked with success and
comparative economy, especially if the garments made are used
for the purposes of the Distress Committee, for emigrants, etc.

(d) That other experiments should be tried, especially in
the way of giving women training in dairying, poultry- farming,
and other light work on the land, as a preliminary to settling
them and their dependent children on the land with self-support-
ing employment.

(e) That better industrial training for women and girls
should be encouraged, and might partly be worked in connection
with those who are out of work, maintenance during unemploy-
ment being made conditional on attendance at classes.

(/) That a more complete system for providing men out of
employment with work is necessary to relieve the extra competi-
tion for women's work, which is caused by the wives of men

unemployed in times of special distress, and which aggravates
the distress amongst women who are habitually wage-earners.

(g) That widows with young children, or women with sick
or infirm relatives dependent on them, should also be removed
from competition in the labour market by receiving adequate
maintenance from State or local funds on condition of attending
fully to their home duties.

(h) Some other proposals made, such as prohibition of
overtime and child labour do not come within the province of
the Local Government Board.

The Council in drawing your attention to these points hopes
that you may consider again the proposal which they made to you
in February that you should send a circular to the Distress Com-
mittees pointing out to them the necessity of paying special
attention to the registration of women and suggesting methods
of providing employment for those who apply. We would point
out that the registration and the supply of work stand or fall
together ; if the women find nothing provided for them they
naturally do not take the trouble to register. For instance, in
West Ham, where no workroom was provided last year, the
registration fell in 1906-1907 to 141 from 236 in 1905-6 when
there was a women's workroom, though from evidence that we
have, the unemployment amongst women was no less acute in the
latter year. On the other hand, in such a borough as Holborn,
trouble having been taken to get some women into the Central
Body's workroom and to find work in other ways for others, the
number of women registered has risen from 23 in the autumn
and winter of 1906 and the spring of 1907 to 59 from July ist
to October 31st, 1907. Indeed, unless some fair chance of
obtaining work is given to the applicants, they may be actually
worse off for registration, as we have evidence that women find
it difficult to get extended time for payment of rent when their
landlords discover by the visits of the Inquiry Officer that their
tenant is out of work.

We, therefore, hope that you will use the machinery and
influence of the Local Government Board to press forward the
provision of work for women and girls dependent on their own
earnings, and we should be very glad if you would consent to
receive a small deputation from our Council to lay our sugges-
tions more fully before you.

We are, yours truly,

L. Wyatt , Papworth, General Secretary.

Margaret E. MacDonald,
November 14th, 1907. Secretary of the Legal Committee.

REPORTS ON TRADES.

Reports of women's work in the following trades have
appeared in back numbers of the Women's Industrial News.
Kxcept Nos. 8, 13 and 18, the enquiries were the work of the
Investigation Committee of the Women's Industrial Council.
Price 6d. each, post free.

1 . Fur-pulling {News, March, 1 898 ; Nineteenth Century^ November, 1 898)

2. Typing {News, June 1898 and September 1898).

3. Boot Trade (iWwj, September 1898).

4. Printing Trades {News, Dec. 1898 and Dec. 1904; Economic Journal,

June 1899).

5. Straw Plait Industry {News, Sept. 1899).

6. What Occupations are taken up by Girls on Leaving Sehool ? {News,

March, 1900).

7. Upholstery {News, March 1900 ; Oj^en Doors for Women Workers, 1903).

8. Birmingham Pen Trade {News, June 1900).

9. Women's Work in Dustyards {Economic Journal, Sept. 1900).

10, Cigar-making {News, Sept. 1900 and Dec. 1900; Ecoftomic Journal

Dec. 1900).

11. Domestic Service (iV^zc5, March 1900, June 1901; Nineteenth Century y

June 1903).

12. Pharmacy (A'^^w^, June 1901).

13. The Clothing Trade in Amsterdam {News, Sept. 1901, Dec. 1901).

14. French Polishing {News, March, 1902).

15. Sanitary Inspecting {News, March 1902).

16. Machining {News, March 1903).

1 7. Artificial Flower-making {News, June 1 903 ; Economic Journal, March,

1903).

18. Fruit-picking {News, Sept. 1903).

19. Jewel Case Making (iVtfze/j, June 1904).

20. Embroidery Part I {News, Sept. 1904).

21. Tailoring {News Sept. and Dec. 1905 ; Economic Journal, 1904).

22. Millinery {News, March 1906.

23. Laundry Work {News, June 1907.)

The Committee have only partially investigated the following
trades, and the information collected may be (consulted in manu-
script at the olB&ce, after written application to the Secretary.

1 . Lacquering. 8.

2. Box-making. 9.

3. Military Cap Making. 10.

4. Dress -making. 1 1 .

5. Mantle-making. 12.

6. Military Tailoring. 13.

7. Leather Working. 1 4.

Confectionery.
Haircutting.
Boot-making.
Jewel Case Lining.
Electrical Fittings Making.
Gentlemen's Hat Lining.
Laundry Work and Ironing.

Women's Industrial Council.

7. JOHN STREET, ADELPHI, STRAND. W.C.

New Publications.

Labour Laws in Italy^ by Mrs. Thomas Okey (contains an account
of the New Maternity Insurance Law and its operation). Price id.,
post free i^d.

Labour Laws for Women in the United States, by Josephine O.
Goldmark, National Consumers* League. Price id., post free i|-d.

Labour Laws for Women in Germany, by Dr. Alice Salomon,
Berlin. Price id., post free i|-d.

Labour Laws for Women in France, by B. L. Hutchins, price id.,
post free i^d.

Australian and New Zealand Labour Laws (a comprehensive
summary with bibliography of such subjects as Anti-Sweating
La^vs, Wages Boards, Arbitration and Conciliation Courts, etc.)
Price id., post free i|^d.

Women's Wages in England during the I9th Century (a study of
wages, based chiefly on the researches of Mr. G. H. Wood, F.S.S. ;
discusses the influence of the Factory Acts and of Trade Unionism
on wages). Price id., post free i|-d.

How to deal with Home Work (an up-to-date edition of an old tract
which will be found very useful in view of the interest aroused in
the subject by the Sweated Industries Exhibition, the National
Women's Labour League, the Anti-Sweating League for a
Minimum Wage, and other bodies). Price id., post free ifd.

Women Workers and the Factory Act — Questions and Answers
on the Act prepared by the Clubs' Industrial Association for use
in Girls' Clubs. Price id., 2/6 per 100.

Women Workers and the new Laundry Regulations. Price Jd.

The Annual Report of the W.LG» may be had free on application.

Those interested are asked to subscribe to the Women's
Industrial News — 2/- per annum post free — so as to be kept in
touch with the work done. A specimen copy will be sent free on
application to the Secretary at the Office.

What has already been done by the Council. Free.

Home Work Bill, reprint of, 1907. id.

Women in the Printing Trades, by J. Ramsay MacDonald, M.P.

Price 2/-, post free 2/4.

Continued on p. 4 of Cover,

PUBLICATIONS (Continued from p. 3 of Cover)
(Postage as stated, or id. for single copies ; Id. per dozen).

The Case for the Factory Acts, edited by Mrs, Sidney Webb, gd.,
post free i/-.

Report on Home ladttstHes of Women in London (1897).

Price i/-, postage i^d. (Very few copies only).

Report on Technical Education for Girls at Home and Abroad*
id., post free 2d.

Leaflets at id. each, or gd. per dozen, 2/6 per 100.

Memorandum to the Central Committee re Unemployed Women.

London Borough Councils and the Welfare of Women Workers.

The L.C.C. and the Welfare of Women Workers

The Rhyme of the Factory Act, by Clementina Black (on
Ornamental Card for hanging, i/-, postage 5d).

The Truck Acts, by Stephen N. Fox and Clementina Black.

Questions re Truck.

Summary of The Factory Act.

Publications of other Societies kept for sale.
Home Work and Sweating, by B. L. Hutchins, id. (Fabian Society).
Hints to District Visitors on Sanitation, 2d. (N.U.W.W.)

Hints to District Visitors on Legal Difficulties of the Poor, id.
(N.U.W.W.)

Labour Laws for Women, their Reason and their Results, id.
(City I.L.P.)

Commercialism and Child Labour, id. (City I.L.P.)

Report of Committee on Wage-Earning Children, id. (W.E.C.

Committee).

Home Work amongst Women in Glasgow. Part IL, 6d., by post
7 Jd. (Scottish Council for Women's Trades). Part I. is out of print.

Women as Barmaids, price i/-, postage ijd. (Joint Committee
on Barmaids).

The Problem of Home Work, by Miss Irwin. Price 4d., post free
5d. (Scottish Courjcil).

The Fingerpost (Central Bureau) 1/6 post free. A guide to the
Professions and Occupations of Educated Women.

The Handbook of the Sweated Industries Exhibition (National
Anti-Sweating League). Price 6d., postage 2id.

Report of Conference on a Minimum Wage. Price yd. post
free. (National Anti-Sweating League).

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Full text of "Report of the National Conference on the Unemployment of Women Dependent on their own Earnings, held in the Council Chamber of the Guildhall, London, E.C., on Tuesday, October 15th., 1907"

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